Youth Mentoring
CREATE YOUR OWN CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE
…Inspiring Nigerian Youth to become Source of Positive Influence
BACKGROUND
A nation’s glory and viability is completely hinged on a vibrant and vision driven youth population. Nigeria’s greatest asset lies in its youthful demography. The similitude of the importance of Youth to nation building could be likened to a car engine, without which, vehicles can’t move. So also without Youth, a nation cannot thrive, as they are the cornerstone to societal rejuvenation.
AfriGrowth Foundation Youth Mentoring Series in 2019 is composed of a series of strategic sessions, in which designated Mentors will guide Youths on diverse principles. The Second Edition of the Youth Mentoring Series is anchored on the theme: Create Your Own Circle of Influence. Mentors will facilitate an interactive session with Youths and orient them on how to channel their strength towards becoming source of positive influence in their immediate communities and the society at large.
In AfriGrowth Foundation, we believe that every Nigerian Youth has a ‘circumference of influence’ which is a designated space either in the family, workplace, association, group or community where they can directly impact the lives of others positively.
The core essence of the Youth Mentoring Series II, therefore, is to avail Youth practical knowledge on how to positively direct their energy towards identifying all the values that could shape and lead them towards achieving greatness attested to by the society and by so doing becoming source of positive influence.
DISCOURSE CONCEPT
1) Youth Engagement- Motivating Youth to become Voices for Improved Policies, Programs and Service: The evidence is clear: Youths have a lot to gain – and contribute –especially when they are meaningfully engaged. Youth engagement is a powerful strategy to promote youth health, self-confidence, and positive relationships, and to improve career outlook. Valuing Youth engagement puts the focus on the positive contribution that youth make to programs and their effectiveness; this moves programs from being done “for” Youth to “with” Youth.
Some principles of Youth Engagement, which constitute the building blocks for effective engagement include:
– Voices: Central to youth engagement, youth voice means that the unique ideas, opinions and concerns of young people are respected and youth feel free to express them within an organization or program.
– Civic Engagement: When they are engaged in their community they become agents of change.
– Positive Relationship: Having positive, supportive relationships with peers and adults is a fundamental way for young people to develop and maintain positive mental health, nurture resiliency, and prevent harmful behaviours.
Active Citizenship: Diversity and Inclusion: Active citizens are the building blocks of our democracy. A democracy is only as strong as the citizens that make it up and strength comes from having the knowledge, skills and attitude to work for the common good. Principles of citizenship include:
Character: Moral and civic virtues, such as concerns for the rights and welfare of others.
Knowledge of Government: An understanding of the structure and process of government.
Community Service Learning: Awareness of public and community issues and participation in service to address problems.
Public Policy: The skills, knowledge and commitment to influence decision-making and public policy.
Attitudinal Change: Attitudes are judgments and develop on the ABC model (affect, behavior, and cognition). Most attitudes are the result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment. The prevailing attitude of Nigerian Youths people presently is not suitable for any progressive nation or a nation setting goals to be achieved within a stipulated time. The prevailing attitude supports retrogression, poor socio-economic development, and poor indices of human development.
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Value Re-orientation: The re-orientation of value system in our society is a search for national culture that would reshape national character and image. The quality of any society is directly linked to the importance of the shared values. Value orientation is most imperative for national development. There’s an observed growing rate of moral decadence among Youths in Nigeria. The Youths seem disoriented and this calls for value reorientation. Self-discipline, humility, hard work amongst others are the societal values required by youths. In order to reposition Nigerian Youth as source of positive influence, there is need to re-orientate them on values of being responsible and greatness.